This photo has been my inspiration for the past two years.  Huma Abedin, August 2007 issue of Vogue. The last two years have been an amazing whirlwind and can only be summed up with the phrase “never in your wildest dreams…”. I’ve ridden and cared for elephants in Thailand, camped out in Jordan’s Wadi Rum desert, learned to cook in the Gascony region of France, hunted down rare skincare products in Japan, trekked the Holy Land, and ventured into the West Bank. I’ve shared these adventures with you through outlets like Jetsetter, Cuisine Noir, American Airlines’ BlackAtlas.com, CentricTV, and more. Along the way there was a natural fusion of my tech and travel interests, landing me on both BlackWeb2.0 and Clutch Magazine’s HP Tech Tastemaker lists and a position as a Media Bistro instructor. I’ve trained execs at Amerigroup on social media strategies, been interviewed by Black Enterprise on foursquare and small businesses, served as a panelist at Twitch!: Public Relations in the Age of Social Media and lead the travel+leisure track at Lavish: an unconference. Who knew one could do so much on a career break? Yes, the last two years have been a break, a research period. Now that I’ve gotten to know the business side of travel, the ins and outs of digital publishing and the power of personal branding, the real work begins. Stay tuned for an all new JohnicaReed.com, partnerships with my favorite brands, collaborations with photographers, filmmakers, and more. The goal is to go from selling the destination, to selling the lifestyle.  So yes, 2011 will be the year of the takeover. The break is over folks.